Uncle Tommy's Lesson
I would like to share a story told to me and my dad long time ago. It was one of those stories that have stayed with me and left an impression that I never forgot. It is an important lesson in judging others.
My dad had an uncle named Tom who lived in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, Scotland and we went to visit him as my dad wanted to "check up on him" to see that he was doing alright. I always remember that the street was called Espiside Crescent why I don't know just one of those things I suppose.
It was a cold winters day and we sat close to the fire. I learned that day that men talk of things when women are not around especially men who have seen battle and experienced war first hand. My dad fought in the second world war and his uncle had fought in the first world war. How the subject got there I don't remember but I do remember uncle Tommy's words as clear as day.
I learned that day that these two men that I respected thought that war was stupid and filled with horror that stayed with a soldier the rest of his life and that is why no soldier that has experienced it ever talk s about it in public.
My dad's uncle Tommy said that during the first world war he was lying in a short trench that had suffered a direct hit from a German shell. All the men were dead except himself and a man from Glasgow. He at one side of the shell hole and the man from Glasgow at the other with about ten to fifteen men lying dead between them. Both men hoped that they may be rescued if the British advanced or if they came out looking for wounded men after dark. Tommy said that he felt sure the other man would have made it except for what happened next.
An officer who was suffering from shell shock came running up and started screaming at the dead men to attack the Germans. The man from Glasgow was badly wounded in his legs but not critical and begged uncle Tommy to crawl to a rifle and to shoot the officer before the Germans spotted him and fired another shell into the trench. Uncle Tommy was also wounded mostly in his upper body but he was not able to get to a weapon before the Germans spotted the crazy officer. Sure enough his antics drew fire down upon them and another shell landed in the trench killing the man from Glasgow and severely wounding uncle Tommy in the head to the point where it was a miracle that he survived not only the blast and shrapnel but the surgery afterwards. He carried a steel plate in his head the rest of his days.
The officer too was now wounded but not as severe as the German shell was directed at the "troops" in the trench. Later uncle Tommy heard that the officer was awarded a medal for gallantry either a distinguished service medal (DSM) or distinguished service cross (DSC) I am not sure which but he got it for bravely trying to rally two badly wounded soldiers and a trench full of dead men in the face of enemy fire as some senior officer three or four trenches back had watched this "heroic" action through a pair of binoculars.
Uncle Tommy's lesson?
Don't judge the medals on a mans chest judge the man carrying them.
My dad had an uncle named Tom who lived in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, Scotland and we went to visit him as my dad wanted to "check up on him" to see that he was doing alright. I always remember that the street was called Espiside Crescent why I don't know just one of those things I suppose.
It was a cold winters day and we sat close to the fire. I learned that day that men talk of things when women are not around especially men who have seen battle and experienced war first hand. My dad fought in the second world war and his uncle had fought in the first world war. How the subject got there I don't remember but I do remember uncle Tommy's words as clear as day.
I learned that day that these two men that I respected thought that war was stupid and filled with horror that stayed with a soldier the rest of his life and that is why no soldier that has experienced it ever talk s about it in public.
My dad's uncle Tommy said that during the first world war he was lying in a short trench that had suffered a direct hit from a German shell. All the men were dead except himself and a man from Glasgow. He at one side of the shell hole and the man from Glasgow at the other with about ten to fifteen men lying dead between them. Both men hoped that they may be rescued if the British advanced or if they came out looking for wounded men after dark. Tommy said that he felt sure the other man would have made it except for what happened next.
An officer who was suffering from shell shock came running up and started screaming at the dead men to attack the Germans. The man from Glasgow was badly wounded in his legs but not critical and begged uncle Tommy to crawl to a rifle and to shoot the officer before the Germans spotted him and fired another shell into the trench. Uncle Tommy was also wounded mostly in his upper body but he was not able to get to a weapon before the Germans spotted the crazy officer. Sure enough his antics drew fire down upon them and another shell landed in the trench killing the man from Glasgow and severely wounding uncle Tommy in the head to the point where it was a miracle that he survived not only the blast and shrapnel but the surgery afterwards. He carried a steel plate in his head the rest of his days.
The officer too was now wounded but not as severe as the German shell was directed at the "troops" in the trench. Later uncle Tommy heard that the officer was awarded a medal for gallantry either a distinguished service medal (DSM) or distinguished service cross (DSC) I am not sure which but he got it for bravely trying to rally two badly wounded soldiers and a trench full of dead men in the face of enemy fire as some senior officer three or four trenches back had watched this "heroic" action through a pair of binoculars.
Uncle Tommy's lesson?
Don't judge the medals on a mans chest judge the man carrying them.
posted by Wisdom at 11:43 PM
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